


The Date

by st_mick



Series: (Mis)Understandings [5]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: First Date, M/M, Nervous Jack, Sad News, The months that Jack was gone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 11:15:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17641715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/st_mick/pseuds/st_mick
Summary: After being gone for a bit more than four months (from Torchwood's perspective), Jack asks Ianto out on a date.  During their conversation, Jack learns of how Ianto spent that time.





	The Date

“So,” Jack began awkwardly.  Who knew he could still be nervous, on a first date?

“So,” Ianto replied, his eyes amused.  He hadn’t expected Jack to follow through on the date, but here they were, a week after sending John Hart back through the rift, sitting in an intimate corner of a lovely restaurant.

It wasn’t like they hadn’t talked.  Two days after the Hart fiasco, Jack had explained – to the extent he was able, right now – about where he had been, and what had happened.  The year that never was…  Ianto had comforted Jack.  Had, as always, soothed him and calmed him and made everything more bearable.

“How’ve you been, Ianto?” Jack asked, a little too loudly.  Then inspiration struck.  “How’s your family?  How’s that lovely mother of yours?”

Ianto shifted uncomfortably.  “My…”  He took a sip of his wine and Jack became concerned.  “My mam…  She passed, while you were away.”

Jack felt his insides contract.  “God, Ianto.  I’m sorry.  What…”  Was he even allowed to ask?

Ianto gave a ragged laugh.  “You know, she called me that night, right after I let the Saviour…” he trailed off, still feeling such shame over his actions.

Jack gripped his hand, encouraging him to continue.

“She told me that she’d seen her doctor.  That there was a lump.  And that’s when it hit me.  I realized what I’d done to you.  I… She’s the one who saved you that night, Jack.”

Jack raised Ianto’s hand and kissed it, giving it another squeeze.  He had forgiven Ianto that very night.

“But they’d found it too late.  She was gone _so_ fast…” he sniffed.  “God, she was strong, Jack.  Right to the end, she was never afraid, never lost her humor.  She…” he could not add that she had even apologized for never acknowledging the atrocities her husband had committed.  Those she knew about, at any rate.  Thankfully, she went to her grave, blissfully unaware of anything beyond the horrible words and the occasional whipping or beating.

He did speak of falling back into his old pattern, within weeks of Jack’s disappearance.  The first couple of weeks had been spent on a wild goose chase in the Himalayas.  When they got back, he had only been able to cope with his confusion and grief over Jack’s absence by throwing himself into his mother’s care, when he was not at work.  Sleep usually consisted of two or three hours’ kip on the bed in Jack’s bunker in the wee hours. 

He had practically lived at the Hub, working from six in the evening until eight in the morning, when the rift permitted somewhat regular hours.  Then straight to his mother’s to watch over her until four in the afternoon, when he’d go home to shower and change for another long night at work.

The others only realized the grueling two and a half months Ianto had endured when he was forced to tell them of her death, when he needed a few days to help Rhiannon pack up the house and set the last of his mam’s affairs in order.  Three days after he returned, he collapsed.

Owen put him on forced medical leave for a week, visiting him daily to make him eat and dole out vitamins and something to help him sleep.  When he returned to work, the rift was quiet enough that Gwen was able to move him back to day shifts, forcing him to work short shifts for the next week.  Owen sent him home each evening after giving him an alien sleep aid to get him through the night.  He would barely have enough time to get home before it set in, but Owen was concerned Ianto would stockpile the meds and do something stupid, if he just gave him a pill to go home with.

Ianto did not even have the wherewithal to hide the fact that the thought had occurred to him.

Ianto had been returned to normal duty for a week when Jack returned.  Had it really only been six weeks since the funeral?  He shook his head, not realizing he’d spoken the last, aloud.

“Ianto, I…” Jack’s eyes held so much sadness, Ianto could not bear it.

“Jack, it’s fine.  You didn’t even know she was sick.”

“I wish I could have been here, for you,” Jack said.

Ianto nodded, grateful for the sincerity of Jack’s words, even if they surprised him.  “I managed to spend a lot of time with her at the last, so there’s that, I suppose.”

“You know, she always reminded me of someone, but I was never able to figure out just who,” Jack said, smiling.

“She told me you said that.  I told her you were flirting.  Made her blush,” Ianto gave a melancholy chuckle.

Jack kissed Ianto’s hand again.  “Next time you go to visit her, bring me along, if you’d like.  I’ll bring flowers.  Pay my respects.”

“I’d like that, Jack.”

***

**Author's Note:**

> (Mis)Understandings timeline:  
> Jack wakens / leaves with the Doctor: 01.19.2007  
> RIP, Glenda Jones: 04.19.2007  
> Jack Returns: 05.25.2007  
> First Date: 06.01.2007


End file.
